The man tasked with stopping Messi will be Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has played the deep-lying midfield role since Joachim LÃ¶w reformatted his side for the 1-0 quarter-final victory over France. The Bayern midfielder is an excellent passer, but can struggle defensively against tricky, top-class opponents, and the composition of Germanyâ€™s midfield triangle means Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira are likely to be pressing Argentinaâ€™s deep midfielders, rather than helping to stop Messi.

A further concern is the suspicion Messi will drift out to the right, as he did frequently in the semi-final against Holland. In that zone, heâ€™ll be up against Germanyâ€™s weak link Benedikt HÃ¶wedes, although as a natural, right-footed centre-back, HÃ¶wedes might defend narrowly and show Messi down the outside, which is preferable to letting him inside on to his left foot.

Germany need three things to go right to prevent Messi dominating. First, they need a good individual performance from Schweinsteiger, handed the most difficult task of his career: stopping the most celebrated player of his generation performing on the worldâ€™s biggest stage.

More crucially, they need a good team effort. This means the second task must be to remain extremely compact, denying Messi space between the lines, and getting bodies around him if he manages to evade Schweinsteiger.

How do Argentina cope in midfield?

Argentina will be determined not to suffer the same problems as Brazil, who were pressed into submission by the energy and tenacity of the German midfield. This will be extremely tough for Argentina, who arenâ€™t blessed with great passers in the centre of the pitch, especially with one day less rest.

Maybe the ultimate answer to the threat of Germanyâ€™s midfield, however, is simply defending deep. Germany donâ€™t depend upon counter-attacking as much as in 2010, but their most dangerous attacks against Brazil were quick, direct and about breaking into space. When Argentina get numbers behind the ball, theyâ€™re extremely solid, and theyâ€™re yet to concede a goal in the knockout stage of this competition. Rather than trying to compete in midfield, Sabella might allow Germany the run of that zone, and keep it tight much deeper.